Notes/Domino 8 Ships Amidst Growing Economic Uncertainty

Ed Brill and countless
others in the Domino Blogosphere and the wider technology press will have
plenty to say about the news today that IBM/Lotus is shipping Notes/Domino
8. The product improvements certainly hold a great deal of promise
in terms of reversing many of the negative perceptions that have built
up in recent years. But aside from that, I have to wonder if there
isn't another, external force that will contribute just as much to a resurgence
of Lotus in the marketplace.

Much has been made
lately of the relative value of Lotus Notes/Domino vs. Microsoft Outlook/Exchange/.NET/Sharepoint/SQL/VB/etc.
The basic point that I and others have made is that trying to do
with Microsoft products what Notes/Domino does all by itself requires significantly
more people, more products, and more time, and thus more money, all while
locking you into the Windows Server OS. Notes 8 takes this a significant
step further by directly challenging Microsoft's two heretofore unassailable
advantages: The Windows Desktop OS and MS Office Suite. By any objective
measure, this is a value proposition that cannot help but make any budget-concious
organization sit up and take notice.

Which brings me to another big news
story of the last few weeks: the apparent collapse of America's high-flying
mortgage lending market, and the worldwide economic impact that is playing
out even now:

Top U.S. executives are watching the spread of the economic contagion that
started with a slump in U.S. home prices and spread through the financial
sector as default rates on risky subprime mortgages rose, spooking investors
the world over...

If we accept that many of the decisions
made by organizations to switch from Notes/Domino to Outlook/Exchange/.NET/Sharepoint
in recent years were based more on emotion than on technical or financial
merit (and I do), the next question is how did all those extra costs not
raise more red flags on the balance sheet? Well, my theory is that
as financially foolish decisions like this become increasingly hard to
justify amidst the overall economic belt-tightening, we'll start to see
a lot less of them. From that standpoint, Notes 8 couldn't have come
at a better time. Even if the downturn suppresses overall worldwide
IT spending for awhile, it seems likely that Lotus will be getting a bigger
share of what's left.

Disclaimer

This site is in no way affiliated, endorsed, sanctioned, supported, nor blessed by Lotus Software nor IBM Corporation, nor any of my past or future clients (although they are welcome to do so). The opinions, theories, facts, etc. presented here are my own and in no way represent any official pronouncement by me on behalf of any other entity.